Procyon Advisors LLC Buys 874 Shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST)

Procyon Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,367 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 874 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fastenal were worth $801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fastenal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in Fastenal by 131.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 600 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Fastenal by 184.9% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Fastenal during the 2nd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fastenal by 158.8% during the fourth quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fastenal

In other Fastenal news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $826,988.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at $414,392.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider William Joseph Drazkowski sold 11,968 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.10, for a total transaction of $826,988.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $414,392.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Charles S. Miller sold 11,076 shares of Fastenal stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $832,472.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 105,682 shares of company stock valued at $7,375,853. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on FAST. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Fastenal from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Fastenal from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastenal has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.50.

Fastenal Stock Performance

Shares of FAST traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $78.17. The company had a trading volume of 550,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,909,086. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.26, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.05. Fastenal has a 52-week low of $50.30 and a 52-week high of $79.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 4.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Fastenal had a net margin of 15.72% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Fastenal will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Fastenal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This is a boost from Fastenal’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Fastenal’s payout ratio is 77.23%.

About Fastenal

Fastenal Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies in the United States, Canada, Mexico, North America, and internationally. It offers fasteners, and related industrial and construction supplies under the Fastenal name. The company's fastener products include threaded fasteners, bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and related washers that are used in manufactured products and construction projects, as well as in the maintenance and repair of machines.